Anthropology Department

2012 Field School

Between May 9 and June 15, 2012 Grand Valley State Universitys Department of Anthropology conducted its Archaeological Field School in several locations in Muskegon and Ottawa Counties.

The objective of the 2012 field school was to train students in archaeological field methods in the context of public service archaeology. To meet those objectives we conducted field work at multiple locations primarily on Ottawa County Parks and Recreation lands, on the GVSU campus, and two other locations in Muskegon County, Pomona Park in the village of Fruitport and on the property of a private landowner. In conducting the work, students learned a variety of archaeological field techniques including surface collection, shovel testing, test excavation, magnetometer and ground penetrating radar surveys. In addition, students were introduced to basic laboratory processing and cataloging. Approximately half of the students have continued to volunteer and are working on data collected from the summer which will be summarized in brief papers and presented at a conference in the fall.